The raid is liveblogged when one of Bin Laden’s neighbors complains about the noisy helicopters on Twitter, while Bin Laden’s compound gets 3 of 5 stars on Google Maps. Also in the news: weaponized dogs and a tale of two seals.

Sohaib
Athar, a.k.a. @ReallyVirtual, had no idea the helicopters he was
complaining about on twitter were part of the top secret mission that
killed Osama bin Laden Sunday night. 10 hours before bin Laden’s death
was announced Athar posted: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM
(is a rare event).” From the article: “During the raid, Athar
speculates that he was two or three kilometers away from the shooting
that took place. Once news broke that bin Laden had been killed in
Abbottabad, Athar tweeted, ‘Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the
Osama raid without knowing it.’”

Google Maps users have already submitted their own post-op evaluation.

Many
submitters have pointed out that Osama bin Laden’s hideout is getting a
lot of reviews on Google Maps. Some of my favorites of the 600+ so far
include: “The hotel is obviously doing quite well, as evidenced by the
fact that the cleaning crew is actually helicoptered in each evening,
and in fact they go so far as to destroy any furniture that they feel is
outdated or in need of repair,” and “Privacy was great…until being
leaked out on the Playstation Network.”

A Silver Star, one of the Navy’s highest awards, was awarded posthumously in 2009 to a dog named Remco after he charged an insurgent’s hide-out in Afghanistan….Last year, the Seals bought four waterproof tactical vests for their dogs that featured infrared and night-vision cameras so that handlers — holding a three-inch monitor from as far as 1,000 yards away — could immediately see what the dogs were seeing. The vests, which come in coyote tan and camouflage, let handlers communicate with the dogs with a speaker, and the four together cost more than $86,000. Navy Seal teams have trained to parachute from great heights and deploy out of helicopters with dogs.

Meanwhile, not so far from Ground Zero for the 9/11 attack Bin Laden inspired, a different kind of seal landed–perhaps to suggest other priorities for the world and its animals?

NMDnet is a "meta-network" of social networks to help unite in a single conversation the University of Maine's New Media students, faculty, and alumni. You can participate via email, Facebook, or Twitter. More...